poor sails were not of the right shape to respond to heavy ocean
breezes. He would have given her up altogether could he have found
another boat to take her place; but the sparsely settled Canaries of
1492 were not the much-visited winter resort that they are to-day; no
big ships were then in the harbors; and so there was nothing to do but
patch up the _Pinta_ and change the shape of her sails.

While this was being done, Columbus's waiting crew became acquainted
with the Spanish colonists, and with very good results; for these
islanders had a curious delusion to the effect that every year, at a
certain season, they _saw_ land far off to the west. Men were very
credulous in those days. It is probable that their "land" was nothing
more than clouds which, owing to certain winds of that particular
region, lie low on the horizon for a long time; but the people of the
Canaries, and of the Madeiras too, all firmly believed they saw Antilla
and the other "western lands" of legend; and Columbus, nodding his head
wisely, told how the king of Portugal had shown him some reeds, as large
as those of India, that had been washed up on the western shore of the
Azores. "We shall find land seven hundred and fifty leagues from here,"
he repeated over and over, for that was the distance the pilot said he
had gone. So sure was Columbus that, on leaving the islands, he handed
each pilot sealed instructions to cease navigating during the night
after they had gone seven hundred leagues.

The tales and delusions that flourished in the Canaries put heart into
the crew, so when the little squadron again set forth on September 6 the
men were less hostile to the expedition.

Some excitement was given to this fresh start by a rumor, brought from
one of the islands, that Portuguese ships were seeking the Spanish